


tell me that you're still mine

by freckledrob



Series: soft to the touch, feels like love (reunion/boyfriends/fiances/husbands 3.0) [3]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Future Fic, M/M, Reunion 3.0, aaron's happy, robert feels guilty, they're very much in love, well the morning after reunion 3.0
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-18 13:02:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21661252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freckledrob/pseuds/freckledrob
Summary: aaron wakes up to a sight he's been missing for two years
Relationships: Aaron Dingle/Robert Sugden
Series: soft to the touch, feels like love (reunion/boyfriends/fiances/husbands 3.0) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1542304
Comments: 7
Kudos: 68





	tell me that you're still mine

**Author's Note:**

> morning after reunion 3.0
> 
> (title from "afterglow" by taylor swift)
> 
> -eb

When Aaron wakes up, he doesn’t want to move. He doesn’t want to open his eyes. He doesn’t want to face the chance that he dreamt it all and risk finding out that he’s still waking up alone.

There’s a shift of weight on the bed. Aaron warily forces an eye open and finds himself sighing with relief at the sight in front of him.

 _Robert._ He’s here. _Really_ here. Sitting up, towards the edge of the bed. With his hair tousled, Aaron can see how it’s longer now, closer to the length that it was all those years ago, when they were an affair. Robert’s freckled back and shoulders are facing him. Robert didn’t have any clothes on hand at the Mill anymore, as most of his stuff was either in storage or at Victoria’s, so he had opted just to sleep in his boxers. His hair and skin were golden from the sunlight creeping in and a wave of warmth hit Aaron right in the chest. In his heart. 

Robert didn’t seem to notice that Aaron was awake. He was just staring at the space in front of him, absentmindedly playing with his hands. He didn’t seem uncomfortable, just… off. 

“Hey.” Robert startles at the sound of Aaron’s voice, despite his soft tone.

He turns to face the younger man he unwillingly left behind two years prior. Aaron lays there and Robert can see his eyes searching his face for signs of distress or nerves. 

He speaks again, “What’s going on in that head of yours, Rob?”

Robert looks away from him, instead trailing his gaze to different spots around the room. Their room. At least, it used to be theirs. Before he messed everything up.

“I hurt ya.” He hates how small he sounds. How wounded he is. But he is. Any time without Aaron is too much. Even if he was the one who cut off contact. Even if he was the one who filed for div-

He’s brought back down to earth by Aaron’s voice. Aaron is once again the only thing that can ground Robert when he travels too far into his own mind.

“Yeah. You did. There’s no denying that,” Aaron moves so that he’s sitting upright as well, but instead of sitting next to Robert, he’s positioned behind him and he wraps his arms around the older man’s waist.

“I think I’ve made it very clear that you going to prison and what you did after you got transferred, it… it hurt like hell.”

Robert’s stomach drops, “I thought I was doing what was best. I wanted to protect you. I was so worried about what was going to happen to you.”

Aaron sighs, “I know. And you wanted to protect yourself as well. To protect your heart. I know that now.”

He presses his lips to Robert’s shoulder and keeps them there for the time being. It brings a sense of comfort, for both of them.

“It was just going to be such a long time before I got out. At least I thought it was. I didn’t want-”

“To weigh us down,” Aaron murmurs against Robert’s skin. That’s what Robert had said the night before. He didn’t want to be weighing his family down, so he let them go.

Robert nods, biting the inside of his cheek. He had been doing that a lot, biting his cheek. Some days he could taste the blood in his mouth. Those were the worst days. The days when he was left to think about what he’d lost. What he hoped he could gain back.

Aware that Robert is still struggling, Aaron presses another kiss to his shoulder before maneuvering so that he’s kneeling beside Robert and facing him. Even while looking broken, Robert has a look in his eyes that only Aaron has ever seen. Pure love. It only lasts for a moment, before Robert looks down at his hands, but it still pulls at Aaron’s heartstrings with full force.

He gently tilts Robert’s chin up with his hand, forcing their eyes to meet again.

“I love you,” Aaron tells him. Reassures him. Comforts him.

Robert’s cheeks are rosy, whether from sleep or bashfulness, Aaron isn’t sure. It was never like Robert to get shy, especially not when Aaron was talking to him and definitely not in the comfort of their bedroom. But that was the Robert he had known before. The Robert sitting in front of him now is a Robert who needs convincing that he’s worth being loved again. As if Aaron ever stopped.

“I mean it,” Aaron speaks again, voice more firm than before, “ _I love you._ ”

Robert lets out a breath that Aaron hadn’t realized he was holding in, “I love you too. _Always._ ”

Aaron presses his forehead against Robert’s. He feels their noses brushing against each other. Despite the time apart, despite the things that might have happened, this still feels the same. Aaron can still feel the love radiating from Robert’s skin to his. That could never disappear.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr  friendlycitrus  and/or on twitter  @liviaflahertys 


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